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Rays not your average perfecto foe

Rays not your average perfecto foe

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By John Schlegel
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MLB.com |

Amid the nuggets of history surrounding the 18th perfect game in big league history, the Rays became the first team coming off a World Series the previous year to fall prey to the ultimate pitching feat the following regular season.

As opponents go, the 2009 Rays rank among the tougher foes to make 27 outs without reaching base in the history of perfect games, perhaps making Mark Buehrle's performance for the White Sox on Thursday shimmer a little brighter than it already does.

Even if they're the first defending league champion to be on the wrong side of the perfecto, the Rays also rank high among victims with a 52-44 (.542) mark following the historic night. Only six other teams had higher winning percentages at the time of the event, and the Rays ended a run of losing opponents in perfect games.

The last four victims -- 2004 Braves vs. Randy Johnson, 1999 Expos vs. David Cone, '98 Twins vs. David Wells, '94 Angels vs. Kenny Rogers -- all had losing records at the time of the feat.

Overall, after being subjected to a perfecto, 10 clubs had losing records following that game and eight were at .500 or better. Of the seven winning teams before the Rays, six went on to have a winning record, with the lone exception the '68 Twins, who went from 13-12 to 79-83. Of those with a losing record when it happened, only three went on to have a winning record, including the 2004 Braves, who won the AL East.

Of course, the Rays aren't the only team with World Series ties to have a perfect night spoil theirs.

Remember, the pitching performance of the century was delivered in the 1956 World Series, when Don Larsen went through the Brooklyn Dodgers' order three times without faltering. That marked the only time a reigning World Series champ was on the losing end of a perfecto and the only other time a defending league champion had been victimized.

And the '88 Dodgers, while not coming off a World Series, went to the Fall Classic and won it the same year the Reds' Tom Browning dealt a perfect game against them. In fact, it came with just 16 games left in the regular season, on Sept. 16.

Not surprisingly, those two Dodgers teams are the winningest to have surrendered a perfect game. The '56 Dodgers finished 93-61 that year, and the '88 Dodgers were 84-61 and finished 94-67.

The other teams with better records than the Rays at the time they had a perfect game thrown their way: '91 Dodgers vs. Dennis Martinez, 56-41; '86 Twins vs. Catfish Hunter, 13-12; 1908 White Sox vs. Addie Joss, 85-63; and the 1880 Cleveland Blues vs. Lee Richmond, 12-10.

On the flip side, the 1964 Mets might have to go down as the losingest opponent in a perfect game, with a 20-46 mark after the Phillies' Jim Bunning, the future Hall of Famer and U.S. Senator, went perfect against them, and winding up 53-109 for the season. Or perhaps that should go to the 1880 Buffalo Bisons, who were 8-18 when Monte Ward of the Providence Grays went perfect on them, and they stampeded to a 24-58 mark.

The Rays certainly don't fit into that conversation, but that's probably little consolation for being on the wrong side of perfection.

Wrong side of a perfect game

What's next for the Rays, now that they've beat beaten by Mark Buehrle and the White Sox in a perfect game? Here's what past history has shown happens to clubs after they lost a perfect game.

Pitcher

Team

Date

Opponent

Opp record after game

Opp Final record

Mark Buehrle

Chicago White Sox

7/23/2009

Tampa Bay Rays

52-44

???

Randy Johnson

Arizona D-Backs

5/18/2004

Atlanta Braves

17-20

96-66*

David Cone

New York Yankees

7/18/1999

Montreal Expos

33-55

68-94

David Wells

New York Yankees

5/17/1998

Minnesota Twins

18-24

70-92

Kenny Rogers

Texas Rangers

7/28/1994

California Angels

42-61

47-68

Dennis Martinez

Montreal Expos

7/28/1991

Los Angeles Dodgers

56-41

93-69

Tom Browning

Cincinnati Reds

9/16/1988

Los Angeles Dodgers

84-61

94-67**

Mike Witt

California Angels

9/30/1984

Texas Rangers

69-92

69-92

Len Barker

Cleveland Indians

5/15/1981

Toronto Blue Jays

10-22

37-69

Catfish Hunter

Oakland A's

5/8/1968

Minnesota Twins

13-12

79-83

Sandy Koufax

Los Angeles Dodgers

9/9/1965

Chicago Cubs

65-77

72-90

Jim Bunning

Philadelphia Phillies

6/21/1964

New York Mets

20-46

53-109

Don Larsen

New York Yankees

10/8/1956

Brooklyn Dodgers

93-61

93-61***

Charlie Robertson

Chicago White Sox

4/30/1922

Detroit Tigers

4-11

79-75

Addie Joss

Cleveland Indians

10/2/1908

Chicago White Sox

85-63

88-64

Cy Young

Boston Red Sox

5/5/1904

Philadelphia A's

7-7

81-70

Monte Ward

Providence Grays

6/17/1880

Buffalo Bisons

8-18

24-58

Lee Richmond

Worcester Ruby Legs

6/12/1880

Cleveland Blues

12-10

47-37

* Won NL East
** Won World Series
*** Occurred in World Series

John Schlegel is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.